Various

“ It is not probable that any serious strike will be allowed in Germany. No nation at war can afford to permit extensive strikes on the part of its industrial population. It is not improbable that Great Britain will be obliged to follow the example of Germany in suppressing strikes with the strong hand. When a nation is fighting for its life it cannot permit any class or section of its people to imperil the independence of the country and the safety of its population by pursuing a selfish class interest to the point of paralyzing a vital industry. ”

“ The first phase of the world-conflict has closed with the bitterness of exploded illusions, the alarming growth of the spectre of destruction, the quick materialization of the danger that threatens the noblest possessions of the human race, and the primary necessity of unanimous sacrifices before that danger can be displaced. Taking stock of the present situation just as this war is about to enter its second phase, we cannot but see that the central fact which calls for recognition is the amazing strength of the German nation. ”

“ Our aim as a nation should be, first to preserve our standards of honor and independence. We should truckle to no one. Next, to do absolute justice and to uphold the standard of humanity. We may not be able to prevent any modification of international law or changes in international rules of warfare, in view of vastly changed conditions, but we can insist upon the respect due to us as a great nation. ”

“ Having to choose between the two alternatives of safety and war, or in other words between peace, good will and hell, strange to say, some choose the worst, which seems incredible and leads one to think them helplessly hopeless. The time is at hand for the population of the world to recognize the fallacy of force and the perniciousness of that abominable, detestable doctrine, by inaugurating conciliatory methods appropriate to the present standard of civilization. ”

“ Perhaps it is not destined to go yet, and at the hands of Germany.
“But whatever happens, I think the end of this thing they call militarism will come. Whoever triumphs, the people, even of the victorious country, will demand that the nations’ means be devoted to humanity rather than war. The people are paying for this war. They are losing most, and they know it.
“As an old soldier, I can say there is nothing in war. I have seen enough of it. The world is not at a stage now where constant killing of men by their fellows can go on. This war will be the great lesson.” ”

“ It says:
“Is there no possibility of bringing home to official diligence an apprehension of the fact that preparation for defence, so far from involving us in war, is the best defense against war, as is shown by little Switzerland holding calmly on its path of peace in the midst of warring nations? All the powers respect the neutrality of Switzerland because they know that she is prepared to fight for her independence to the last man, and that she is at all times ready for immediate action in defense of her mountain fastnesses, so that she is a power to be reckoned with.” ”

“ It is a mistake to follow the common disposition of the times and measure progress in terms of numbers—growth of population, pounds of steel, or yards of cotton turned out. Progress is to be sought in things other than the material, in the growth of the ethical, intellectual, and spiritual forces, above all, in justice: social justice, the justice of man to man, justice of employer to employe, justice of the State towards its people, justice written in the law, and justice of nation to nation. ”

“ We do not, however, ask of any of them any sacrifice beyond the observance of the recognized rules of international law and the dictates of humanity. If any nation would declare war against us because we call a halt upon its savagery so far as our own citizens are concerned, we could fight with a good conscience and with a confident trust in the God of justice and mercy.
The United States is not called upon to go to war to protect any of the nations of the Eastern Hemisphere, or the rights and immunities of their citizens. We are not called upon to take sides in the conflict now raging ”

“ In so far as it falls short of maintaining the full height of the dignity of American manhood, in so far will it fall short of its duty and the demands of our intelligent and responsible citizenship.
The people of this country do not want war with any of the belligerent nations, nor do they expect that we will be drawn into the war by the manly assertion of our rights. But dreadful as war is, they would prefer it to seeing our country and our flag made a ridiculous spectacle of pusillanimity and helplessness. ”

“ It is doubtful if any other method is workable than to begin with the establishment of a World Supreme Court for Judicial Settlement backed by ample physical force to curb unruly nations. No one contends that such a tribunal can be made effective without the coöperation of the first class powers, or a decisive majority of them. The task of the United States, after the conclusion of the present bloody war, will be to bring these great nations together in a world-conference to perfect the plan for a World-State. ”

“ When we turn to the pages of the Psalmist, the Prophets, and the Evangelists, we scarcely shall find a word about philosophy, geometry, music, painting, the science of politics, or the construction, constitution, movements, and mysteries of the physical universe. But Isaiah, Micah, Amos, the Gospel writers, and Saint Paul—and, infinitely above all, the Carpenter Prophet of Nazareth—have given the world the loftiest and most absolutely necessary rules and ideals of living. Cleverness is evermore inferior to goodness. ”

“ It was at the outbreak of the present war that an alliance was made among a number of the great powers. It is at the conclusion of this war that we may hope for a league among many of the most powerful nations for the maintenance of peace;—a league, imperfect and rudimentary at the beginning but which may well develop, when its imperfections have been realized and the necessity of a “more perfect union,” becomes clear into a world wide confederacy, which shall have a full dominion over the nations that compose it as our federal union now has over the states of the American republic. ”

“ That the civilized world should desire the Court, and that the delegates from all the nations at an International Conference should unanimously support the effort to create the Court—are encouragements for us all to believe that a plan can be evolved that will meet the emergency temporarily, even if far from perfection. Quoting, in substance, a remark of a great statesman, “Even if one’s hopes may not be realized at once, that is no reason why we should not press forward in the direction in which we see possible success. What is impossible to-day may become possible to-morrow.” ”

“ This has bred social divisions which even the pressure of war finds difficult to heal. If this war is fought through to success by the working people of England, as it must be if England is successful, because the working people furnish the bulk of the army and navy and the toilers in the factories, they will undoubtedly demand a rearrangement of social forces which will give them a more equitable participation in the prosperity of the country. German efficiency teaches the world that no nation can permit the growth within its boundaries of a proletariat that feels itself disinherited. ”

“ If there is no obligation on the part of the nation entering the court to abide by the verdict and the league itself will not enforce the verdict, surely no oppression can result from the demand for a hearing. It is a reasonable demand as applied to any controversy whatsoever, whether it be a justiciable controversy or a controversy arising out of a conflict of political policies. ”

“ Everything considered, no man can fall lower in the scale of humanity than a militarist—it is a depth beneath which we cannot go, for the greatest thing in the world is man, and the greatest thing in man is mind, therefore, one who concocts and schemes to destroy ruthlessly and wantonly, the greatest thing in the world, is the worst enemy the world contains, and the rock bottom of the depth has been reached by this arch murderer. ”

“ The militaristic mind travels in a trench by stage coach, lives in a cave, reads ancient tomes by candle light, thinks of the enemy skulking about, and fears that an antagonist is lurking in every nook and corner, and that behind every tree and fence foes are lying in ambush. It is blind to everything that has happened since the dawn of civilization, and is seemingly ignorant of the results of progress and of almost every matter of common knowledge regarding civilized conditions of life. ”

“ Every thinking American must admit that a highly beneficial result of the agitation of the question of the relation of government to business in the past few years has been to bring about a vast change in this order of things. Corporations are no longer able to dictate legislation for their selfish ends through a conscienceless and morally stultified class of political representatives. It is well that this rank undergrowth, which impeded all proper participation in politics on the part of self-respecting business men, has been to a great extent cleared away. ”

“ Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, in an address at the Commencement Exercises of Union College, said it would be as futile to abolish armaments as it would be to abolish knives because knives often inflict wounds. The reason of war, in his opinion, lies far deeper than armaments—it is the desire to use armaments wrongly for aggression. A general reduction of armaments should be sought with earnestness, “but for one nation to disarm and leave itself defenseless in an armed world is a direct incentive and an invitation to war.” ”

“ Therefore the question of universal peace is now of vital interest not alone to the statesman, the ruler, the general and the financier, but to “the man in the street,” to the ordinary citizen, to every woman, and to every little child. It always concerned all these in a general way, but now it is brought intimately home to all, because war can at any moment put any individual in imminent personal deadly peril of life or limb. ”

“ For Japan to hold her hand now and restrain her ambition when the folly of the great European nations has offered her an opportunity which may never occur again, would be an act of extreme self-abnegation even on the part of a Christian. Can we expect a higher standard of world-ethics from a heathen? Looking the situation squarely in the face, we may expect to see Japan set her foot upon the neck of China and subdue that country politically and economically to her will, for China has no power of organized resistance. We may then expect to see Japan set up a sort of Monroe Doctrine of Asia. ”

“ It gives a misleading picture of war conditions and is an insult to the best manhood of all the nations engaged in the war. Denials have come from all the nations and friends of all the nations, but these denials are hardly needed by those who know about war.
Whatever may be thought of the war, and much as we may deplore its horrors nobody can truthfully deny the courage and hardihood of the men engaged in it, whether they are Germans, English, French or other nationals. It requires just as much courage to endure the wearing danger of the trenches as it does to participate in a bayonet charge. ”

“ The executives have placed under their command armies and police forces to restrain the wicked. With all the machinery of executives and courts and police forces crime is not entirely prevented, nor violence suppressed. People are assaulted and murdered, but in a well-ordered nation the infractions of the law are trifling as compared with the aggregate of peaceful life.
So in a World-State. War and violence might not be entirely prevented, but the aggregate of peaceful life would be so extended as to save civilization and permit moral and material progress. ”

“ The proper policy of the United States is neutrality, but we will gain nothing by toadying to one belligerent or another. Our treatment by the victor in the war, if the war ends in victory for one side or the other, will not be gauged by the friendship we have displayed, or the disappointment which our conduct has occasioned, but by our strength or weakness. We will have to rely upon our own resources and not upon anybody’s favor. ”

“ It begins to look as if some of the belligerent powers of Europe would like to make us dance to the crash of diplomatic notes and unjustifiable war measures. In any street row it is usually the innocent bystander that suffers most, and the belligerents evidently don’t care how much this neutral nation may suffer if they can have their own way. ”

“ In the present cynical attitude of the white and so-called Christian nations toward each other, it is not surprising that a heathen nation like Japan should resolve to take advantage of her superior physical strength to push her own interests. She claims to be a civilized nation, and so do Christian nations engaged in the great European war claim to be civilized. But their civilization is not allowed to stand in the way of their ambitions. It is natural that Japan should aspire to be the controlling power of Asia. ”

“ While there has of late been much agitation of the question whether the Supreme Court of the United States ought to be permitted to overrule the will of the people expressed through legislative bodies, it is nevertheless fundamental to our system that the Supreme Court stands above the legislative and the executive when a constitutional question is at issue. ”

“ ENGLAND AND THE DISINHERITED The present war may prove a blessing in disguise to England if it leads to social reorganization on a more rational and effective basis. The weakness of England, as developed during the past year, has been in lack of unity and organization. There has been not only too much political, but too much class division. The remark has frequently been made, “Why doesn’t England wake up?” There has not been the same effective coöperation among all classes that has been apparent in Germany and in France. ”